Too Good at Goodbyes
by AwkwardxAries
Summary: Time passed and everyone's gone. There's no one left for Rose anymore. With that thought in mind she grabs the dimension cannon and runs back to her home universe. Maybe there she'll escape the torture being immortal brings...
1. Alone Once More

Sombre faced, Rose stands beside the latest grave. Her brother, Tony. He had been 87, his wife had died a month before. He had had the perfect human life. A wife, four children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and thanks to the Vitex fortune, he had lived a comfortable life with his family. But money couldn't buy immortality. No, but the time vortex could.

Rose swallowed past the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her as she stared at the other headstones that occupied the family plot. She knew her parents and husband were amongst them. Sighing, Rose stepped away from the crowd of mourners, making her way back home.

In the almost nine decades, that Rose had spent in the parallel universe she had stayed the same. Physically at least. She hadn't aged since she'd stared into the time vortex at 20. Though her mind had been warped by the horrors that the universe had thrown at her while dimension hopping and working for Torchwood. Both of which had been fruitless in the end. She had ran from the institute during her thirties when a rather unsavoury branch of the institute heard rumours of her immortality.

Pete had helped fabricate new documents for 'Miss Angela Jones' after Rose had died in a car crash. Though thanks to whatever had been altered by her exposure to the time vortex she had awoken several hours later. Thankfully after her death had been covered by authorities.

The same thing had happened multiple times after that. New identities were created every decade or two. The multitude of people she had been and lives she had lived blurred together. She had been Rose Tyler the defender of the Earth, Angela Jones a secretary at a fashion industry, she had been a teacher, a waitress, flight attendant, a journalist and more.

After Pete had become too ill, it had been Tony's job to create the official documents that allowed Rose to start a new life. But he was gone now too. Sure, the responsibility could go to his son Jason but what, was that just her existence now? Destined to forever rely on her family to help her run from the very organisation they worked for.

She didn't want to depend on anyone.

She had destroyed an army of daleks and their emperor with a wave of her hand. Yet she couldn't even seem to manage to live a normal human life. Not that she had wanted to from the moment she had stepped inside the Tardis. But he hadn't wanted her. He had handed her off to his human duplicate. Dooming her to sit at his bedside as every day stole just a little bit more of his mortality.

They were all gone now.

Rose had never truly met any of her nieces and nephews due to being on the run. Any friends and family she had were gone. All the people she had met in her years had mostly passed as well.

The world she stood in was no longer the one she had arrived in all the years ago with her Doctor and Mickey. Though he wasn't _her_ Doctor, was he? He hadn't been then and he wasn't now. _Her_ Doctor had been human and dead for decades.

These thought circulated through her mind as she got into her car, leaving the cemetery far behind her.

 _owo_

Rose slammed the door shut when she stepped into her apartment. Voices echoed from the living room, dropping her bag on the floor, she headed towards the voices and the people that accompanied them.

There three people lounged around the living room talking in loud, excitable tones as they discussed a subject that Rose couldn't immediately identify. One of the room's occupants spun around to face her - her brunette hair catching in the air as she did so - from her place on the sofa.

"Hey Mum."

"Hey sweetheart."

"It's time to leave, isn't it?" Another voice asked, this one belonging to the young male who sat perched upon the windowsill, hands folded in his lap.

"Yeah." She replied simply, leaving the room.

No words were uttered as the siblings stood up and headed to their rooms. Bags were packed quickly and methodically as only habit could teach them to.

Rose entered her own room, her bags having long since been packed. She glanced around the stark room before heading to the wardrobe. It was empty all aside from one thing. A large piece of equipment sat nestled at the bottom coated in a light sprinkling of dust.

She hauled the object out and placed it on the desk, leaving it vulnerable to her scrutiny. It was the only thing left from her time at Torchwood. The dimension cannon. Though now refined and compressed to make for easier travel and better mobility.

As far as Torchwood was aware the machine had been destroyed when a small fire broke out in the storage unit where the dimension cannon had - or thought to have - been stored. She and her husband had smuggled the device out of the institute when it had no longer held any interest or purpose to their operations. The two of them had worked on it, improving it. Though neither had thought it would be used again. Merely working on it as a project to keep themselves entertained.

Until they had notice Rose wasn't ageing. John had doubled his efforts to improve it then. Despite her protests. He hadn't wanted her to stay trapped in a universe she didn't belong to, resigned to watching her loved ones perish. She had relented then.

And now, staring at the machine, she was glad it had been finished. Not just for her sake but for their children's.

That had always been a surprise to Rose. She remembered arriving in Pete's World oblivious to her pregnancy. She remembered lying to the Doctor when she had stood on that godforsaken beach in order to prevent one of them the heartbreak. She remembered marrying John and falling pregnant with their second child and then their third. She remembered the moment they realised that their children were even less human than they had assumed. She remembered running with her children from the institute that had been home, leaving her husband behind in order to protect their children. She remembered the tears they had cried as they said goodbye to each other each and every time she ran. She remembered saying goodbye to him for the last time.

And even now she was still running. But this time, she was running home.

With that thought in mind she slung the ready packed rucksack onto her shoulder and hefted the device that would allow for dimensional travel. She exited the room without a second glance to see her children already stood there. Not a trace of anxiousness gracing their features as they waited patiently. It was routine by now. Someone would be arriving soon. They knew she couldn't resist at least saying goodbye. But they didn't know it wasn't just her brother she was saying goodbye to today.

Placing the machine on the coffee table she turned to her children, after activating it.

"Ready?" She asked, though she knew the answer.

She received three nods in answer. The Tyler-Smith family placed their hands over the now glowing machine.

"On three." Her youngest daughter shouted abruptly.

They took a synchronised deep breath as they prepared for their countdown.

"One." Cars could be heard surrounding the apartment complex.

"Two." Voices echoed from the lobby room below.

"Three." Footsteps clad in combat boots thundered up the stairs.

Four hands descended on the device, clutching the pulsing metal tightly.

The front door came crashing down as the family of four disappeared from the universe that had contained them for over eighty years.

 _owo_

A shock wave rippled through them as they slammed back into reality. They toppled to the ground taking staggering breaths, desperately trying to gather their wits as they clutched at the grass beneath them.

It took each of them varying lengths of time to accommodate to the new universe. It was hard to say who was most affected by the jump. The children had spent every day of their lives in the other universe. But Luna - the eldest of Rose's children - was more Timelord than the rest of them. She had the strongest connection to the Tardis, returning to the same universe was like a breath of fresh air. She was able to shake the effects of dimension travel quickly.

Rose definitely struggled for longer than her daughter. Despite the hundreds of jumps she had taken before it had never gotten easier. Being ripped away from the Tardis every time she was pulled back was like ripping open a wound wider and wider each time. Leaving an even bigger hole for the Tardis to patch up when she returned. But it had been decades, that wound had festered in her time away.

She had had minimal telepathic contact in those years. Her children had quickly grasped the basics with John's tutelage. And even that was nothing compared to the connection she shared with the Tardis. She was - or had _been_ \- human. She wasn't meant to sustain such a bond. And she felt it every time she came home. Felt the tearing and the burning as the Tardis tried to correct whatever wrongs the other universe had caused. And it drained her.

Rose turned to watch her children cautiously over her shoulder. Despite looking like adults, they were only teenagers in Timelord years and whatever the Tardis had done to her made them just that little bit more.

Luna seemed to be taking it in her stride. While Nox - her son - was stood hands braced on his thighs as he struggled to right his breathing. Sol - her youngest - was kneeling in the grass, dew clung to her beige jeans as she stared unseeingly at the horizon.

Rose gulped suddenly, in attempt to push past the pounding in her skull. After a few moments she picked herself up from where she had been crouched on all fours. She scooped up the bunch of wires and warped metal that was the dimension cannon and adjusted the weight of her bag.

Nox turned to her. They had gathered themselves only moments ago.

"Where to mum?"

"A hotel would be nice." Sol groaned clicking her neck.

"Didn't you roll out of bed at two in the afternoon?" Rose teased her daughter.

Sol shrugged in response.

Rose licked her lips as she surveyed her surroundings. She had no idea where they were and that prosed quite a big problem for their plans.

"Lets have a look around. Figure out where we are." She stated marching forward.

A short walk later and Luna was scooping up a discarded newspaper off of a lone park bench.

"Well that answers that question." She muttered before Sol snatched it from her.

"Seriously? Kent! How did we end up in Kent?" Sol shouted incredulously.

Rose peered over daughter's shoulder to see for herself. Sure enough they had found themselves in Kent. The date caught her eye and her eyes widened as the shock overwhelmed her.

 _ **'Sunday 27th June, 2010.'**_

Four years since she'd last been here. She stared at the town below as that fact settled in her mind. Four years seemed like forever, which was ridiculous considering how long she had lived but it was. It had been four years for Mickey. Four years for Jack. Four years for Sarah Jane. A blink of an eye for her. But for them. Four years was too long. And suddenly she missed them more than she cared to admit. She had missed so much of their lives already.

In that moment Rose felt every second of her existence, all 109 years of it. She was incredibly tired. She rubbed at her temple as her headache returned to remind her of the fact she hadn't slept in days. Sleep sounded like bliss right now. She couldn't think anymore about everything she had lost, she just needed to rest. Just for one night.

"Lets try finding that hotel you mentioned, Sol. London can wait."

She ignored the significant looks they shared amongst themselves at her statement. Sol shrugged effectively ending the silent conversation.

"Sure, lets go."

This was the start of their new lives. But that could wait until a decent nights rest.


	2. New Start

Rose slept restlessly that night. As she had every night since she'd looked into the vortex. Before she could pretend it was because she was eager for another adventure or she'd read to pass the time so she could at least act like her life still held some sibilance of normality.

She remembered when John had moved in and he'd joked about how vastly different her sleep schedules were now. She'd only given him a wry smile at the time, things had still been pretty tense between them at the time. Then he'd noticed the ageing - or rather lack of. And slowly the pieces had fallen into place.

She remembered how guilty he'd felt. She'd been doomed to the same fate as his original Timelord self, as Jack had been. She had tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault, that he hadn't known and it had been her choice. But he'd only argue back that he should have known. And slowly the guilt ate away at Rose. She should have told him sooner.

That was something that never changed in their relationship. The guilt. On both sides. Perhaps it would have changed them over time, but they'd rarely been afforded the opportunity to just be together that the heavier topics were easily pushed aside in their short respites.

The rustling of sheets dragged Rose's eyes away from the view of the rising sun. From her perch in the windowsill she watched as her children slept peacefully. All except for Sol. It seemed her daughter was struggling with nightmares again.

Rose hopped off of her perch and crept over to her daughter's bed. The blonde twisted and writhed in her sleep, quickly becoming ensconced in her covers. Rose sat precariously on the edge of the bed before moving to rest her fingers at her daughter's temple.

She sent waves of calm and comfort over their telepathic bond and slowly Sol relax and succumbed to sleep.

Rose stroked the hair off of her daughter's forehead as she eyed her worriedly. Out of all her children, Sol was the only one to frequently suffer with nightmares. It reminded her a lot of a certain Timelord.

Rose sighed, dropping her head hopelessly.

The Doctor and her were long in the past. Their relationship was that little shoebox of memories you shoved at the back of your wardrobe to gather dust as it lay forgotten.

She pushed off of the bed heading back to the window to watch the sunrise as her mind wandered.

 _owo_

 _Rose was torn from the kiss by the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest as she stared at the vacant spot where the time machine had stood moments before. She felt a hand slip into her's, she turned to gaze at the metacrisis of her Doctor._

 _He may be the same man but so much had changed for both of them. She swallowed, forcing that thought down. They needed to get home before they opened that kettle of fish._

 _The journey back to London was tense and silent. Even her Mum hadn't spoken a word. The excitement of the day, the dimension hops and the tension between Rose and the man that looked like the one next to her, had drained her of all her energy._

 _Jackie was dropped off first at the Tyler mansion. She made Rose promise to come over for dinner at some point soon before she shut the door and headed inside._

 _The driver appointed by Torchwood shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his two passengers continued to remain silent._

 _Rose rested her head against the window as her thoughts moved a mile a minute. Things had become so much more complicated. Granted when she had left that morning she hadn't known that a human metacrisis of the Doctor was even possible but she should have known nothing would ever be as simple as she hoped._

 _The car came to a stop and Rose withdrew from her thoughts in favour of climbing out of the car. She thanked the driver and made her way inside the looming block of flats. Somewhere between Norway and England it had started to rain ever so lightly._

 _She could hear the metacrisis following after her as she climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. She walked briskly down the corridor, leaving the door open for him to follow through._

 _"Ah Miss Tyler you're back. I thought you'd be longer."_

 _Rose gave a tight smile to Clarisse, the woman who lived across the corridor to her._

 _"I hope everything went alright?"_

 _"Oh yes, no trouble at all."_

 _"Good. Thank you Clarisse, I'll see you tomorrow."_

 _"Of course anytime Rose, bye."_

 _"Mummy!" A voice shrieked excitedly._

 _She looked up to see her four year old daughter running towards her. She crouched down to engulf her in a hug._

 _"Hey, Lulu. Did you have fun?"_

 _She nodded with a grin. But her face quickly morphed into one of confusion when she spotted the man in the doorway. Rose's head dropped with a sigh as she thought about how she was going to explain this. To the both of them._

 _"You're the Doctor, aren't you?" She asked innocently, no idea the sort of turmoil the question stirred in the two adults._

 _He seemed to hesitate for a second before answering._

 _"Yes, how did you know?"_

 _"Mummy talks about you."_

 _Rose couldn't bring herself to turn around and face him yet, it was still too painful. So instead she focused back on her daughter._

 _"Why don't you go into the living room sweetheart and I'll get you something to eat, yeah?"_

 _She nodded before darting off again._

 _She stayed like that for several minutes. Still crouched on the floor before she stood up with a sigh. She turned slowly to face the man who wore the same face as her Doctor._

 _"Um. So you have a daughter..." He said, stumbling over his words as he scratched the back of his neck._

 _Rose almost rolled her eyes, Timelord or human he'd never been good about talking. Sure he had a gob on him that never seemed to stop but never about the things that mattered. Never about 'domestics'. It would seem that once again it would be down to her to do the talking, at least that was familiar._

 _"Yeah, she's your's well... his."_

 _"I am him."_

 _"I know. It's just... at what point do you stop being him and start being you? From the moment he lost the hand you grew from or..." She trailed off looking at him desperately._

 _His head dropped, concealing the hurt and rejection he was feeling. He let out a sigh before running a hand through his hair as he attempted to compose his thoughts._

 _"From the moment he regenerated." He finally answered, unable to deny her the answers she craved no matter how much it pained him to say it._

 _Rose nodded slowly as if that confirmed what she had theorised. She turned away from him not wanting to see his face when she spoke her next words._

 _"But you're not really him, are you? You can't honestly tell me that becoming a metacrisis only changed the fact you're no longer completely Timelord. It's more than that, isn't it?" He was silent and it didn't seem like he was going to answer so Rose turned back to him. "Isn't it?"_

 _His face was one of sorrow. He seemed to have come to the conclusion that she wanted nothing to do with him. That wasn't the case she just wanted to lay all the cards on the table for once. No more secrets or running from their feelings._

 _"Yes." He cleared his throat. "It was Donna's DNA that created me, in a sense, so-"_

 _"You're timelord plus." She finished for him._

 _"Rose let me jus-" He stepped forward, reaching for her._

 _She moved out of his reach, raising her hands to stop him._

 _"I know but... this isn't the same as a regeneration. You're him but at the same time you're not. You've got to give me time. Just as I don't expect you to rush into the role of father, I need time to get my head around the fact that you may wear his face but you're not him."_

 _He nodded meekly - not able to hide the hurt he felt - as she headed to the kitchen to start Luna's dinner._

 _Luna talked animatedly to both her and the metacrisis throughout the evening. He was just as receptive to Luna as she was to him. That just made it all the more difficult for Rose._

 _All she had ever wanted for her daughter was for her to have her father. And here was the man who in appearance was identical but - in mind - was not. And that tore at her heart, to think that maybe she wouldn't be able to give her daughter everything she deserved after all._

 _She shook her head, attempting to dismiss that train of thought. Only time would really tell what was in store for the two of them. 'And she should at least try to come to terms with everything', she thought to herself as she washed the dishes, 'they deserved that much.'_

 _owo_

Rose was pulled from her memories by her children's sleep being disturbed once more. This time it was Nox who was rising. A glance at the clock on the bedside table told her it was 7:25. A perfectly reasonable time to awake she argued with herself. But she fought the urge to tuck her son back in bed. Especially when Luna followed his example.

She slid off of the window sill instead, going to grab her notepad, to plan for the day.

"What's the plan, Mum?" Luna was the first to speak, her voice soft as her gaze swept over her sleeping sister as she perched on her freshly made bed.

"Are we leaving?" Nox asks.

Rose shook her head, fingers playing with yesterday's newspaper.

"We need to know a little bit more about the state of things here first. It's been two years I don't know if Torchwood three is even still running or who we can go to." Her breath hitched as the realisation caught up with her. They were already running from one danger, what if they had now ran into the arms of another.

Her mouth suddenly snapped shut. Her jaw clenching as her thoughts whirred at a thousand miles an hour.

"Mum?" Nox spoke softly, pulling her from her downward spiral.

"Library." She stuttered out. "We need to find a library and hopefully some computers, try and get a clearer picture of everything."

The two of them nodded.

"So should we wake Sol?"

Rose chuckled as she looked at her youngest, blonde hair sprawled across the pillow case.

"No let her rest, you can switch shifts at lunch, if you want."

They quickly dressed and went out to get breakfast from a local bakery. They dropped off one of the pastries back at the hotel before heading in search of a library. Several hours of research revealed very little of anything of use.

"Uncle Jack might be a bust mum." Nox suddenly called, garnering them some rather severe glares from the library staff.

"Why? What have you found?"

"Look last year, the Rohl Dahl Plass was left a smoking crater, wasn't that the site of Torchwood three's headquarters?"

"Well if it was, it isn't anymore." Luna muttered.

"Does it say anything about casualties?" Rose asked.

"No, just that authorities were surprised that no pedestrians were caught in the blast."

"So it's more the case of tracking Jack down since then. What did you find Luna? Anything about Martha or Mickey in your media stalking?"

"It's not stalking." She grumbled under her breath.

"Not sure the police would agree with you on that."

She huffed but didn't deign to respond to her mother's playful jab.

"Nothing much. Mickey was practically impossible to find what with the whole technically being dead thing. Martha was a little easier but her data is far too protected for a civilian. However, she still seems to be working with UNIT and even meets up with Sarah-Jane for coffee occasionally."

"Right then. Sarah-Jane is likely our best hope of finding anyone else. We'll get lunch then come back to see what else we can find out." Rose said slipping back into 'soldier mode' far too easily.

She'd never really been a soldier with Torchwood but she had been in charge of several groups during her time there including her dimension cannon team and taking authority of a situation had come a little too easily after travelling with the Doctor.

"And what about London? You did say it would be our best shot and if we're going after Sarah-Jane..." Luna trailed off.

"We'll be in London by the end of the week, but we still need to sort out currency, which." She paused meaningfully, before any of her children could interject, "We will do tomorrow. Today is for scouting, no point straining ourselves at the beginning of the race."

The three of them nodded gently.

Rose wondered what they looked like to the outside world. Physically they all appeared to be the same age and yet they'd probably feel right at home in a nursing home.

 _owo_

The next few days were slow going. Nox went out on their second day and got all their gold converted into cash, they were used to the routine of carrying jewellery around to be converted into cash. They'd never known what country they'd find themselves in, and credit cards had never been an option what with them being traceable and all.

They'd quickly realised that their clothes were a couple decades out of place in this year. A quick shopping spree and trip to the charity shop later had solved that particular issue. They hadn't had mobiles in Pete's universe for the same reason as their lack of credit cards and while it was an issue that was fairly easy to solve, they didn't actually exist in this universe and trying to set up accounts seemed like too big of a hassle in comparison to the little help a mobile would give.

It was a Thursday afternoon when they made their way down to the train station to get to London. The journey was estimated to be about an hour and a quarter, so the quartet settled into their carriage getting comfortable for their short journey.

London was as crowded as Rose remembered, the bustling crowds immediately had her hackles raised, so many potential threats and places for them to blend into. She had to shake her head to dismiss the thought, this was not the universe she'd lived in for decades, this was her home, she was safe here. Well, aside from the frequent alien invasions, she supposed.

They clambered into an awaiting taxi, Rose recited Sarah-Jane's address and they took off. Cab fare paid, she told her children to wait outside while she spoke to Sarah-Jane. Despite their protests, they listened, as they always did.

"Just a second." Sarah-Jane called from behind the closed door.

Rose peeked back down the driveway at her children, making sure they hadn't wandered off, they were almost as bad as she was for wandering straight into danger.

The reporter opened the door with a polite smile that faded into shock when she acknowledged who it was on her doorstep.

"Rose?"

Rose smiled gently. "Hello Sarah-Jane, been a while."

"Yes. Yes it has. Come in." She said, stepping back to let her in. "What are you doing here? Mickey said you were in the parallel universe."

"Yeah I was, it's been a lot longer for me than it has for you. I was actually hoping for a favour."

"You can tell me about it over a cup of tea, how does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect."

Rose gave Sarah-Jane a quick rundown of what she'd been upto and Sarah-Jane told her what she'd been upto in turn. It brought a sense of familiarity, she'd visited Sarah-Jane occasionally for a cup of tea and a catch-up when she'd been travelling with the Doctor, it was easy to pretend nothing had changed but so much had.

"So what's this favour?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me where to find Martha Jones? Or anything about UNIT."

Sarah-Jane took a deep breath.

"I'll try to help as much as I can."

"Thank you, Sarah-Jane."

owo

"I'm bored." Sol whined, from where she was sitting on the curb, face in hands.

"Mum will be back in a second." Luna told her sister simply, looking up and down the street cautiously.

"What do you reckon she's like?" Nox asked as he kicked a pebble between his feet.

"Don't suppose it matters so long as she can help."

"Urgh, do you always have to be so diplomatic Lu?" Sol groaned. "Isn't she your Godmother or something? Shouldn't you be more excited?"

"She's not-"

"She's got a point Lu."

Luna huffed at her siblings.

"She's not my Godmother, Mum never even told her she was pregnant, let alone asked her to be my godmother."

"Hey!" A new voice spoke up, the three siblings whipped around to face it. "You looking for Sarah-Jane?" The teenaged boy asked.

"Do you know her?" Sol asked the newcomer.

"Yeah, do you?"

"No, our... sister worked with her once. They stayed in touch, she just popped by for a visit." Luna covered, the age thing was always difficult to explain.

"Oh a journalist. Rani would probably like her, I'm Clyde."

"I'm Sol, hi."

"Nox, nice to meet you."

"Luna." She said bluntly, she wasn't fond of small talk, too distrustful of strangers.

"Cool names."

And he seemed to genuinely mean it, to the siblings' surprise. It was always their names that tripped people up, the age issue was easily dismissed, but their names? Not so much. Luna narrowed her eyes at this stranger, just slightly unsettled by him. There was just something out of place that she couldn't put her finger on.

"Our parents are quirky." Sol shrugged, it was party true after all.

"So how do you know, Sarah-Jane?" Nox asked this time, wanting to steer the conversation away from their family.

"She was doing a report on our school, her son is my year."

The siblings immediately caught the cover up but didn't mention it, simply nodding with a smile. Report likely translating into alien incursion. Silence lulled in the conversation for barely a second before Sol was choking on her shock trying to get her question out.

"She has a so-" Luna cut her sister off.

"Oh how old is he?" Her conversational tone and friendly smile practised and a far call from her earlier attitude

An old friend would have known about Sarah-Jane's son, they couldn't afford to blow their cover when they'd barely been in this universe a week. Shouldn't Sol be better at this by now? Luna wondered with a mental eye roll.

"Fifteen, what school do you guys go to?"

"We're new to the area, just moved here." Nox supplied before Sol could trip them up again.

"Oh cool, you moving into banner-"

"Thank you for everything, Sarah-Jane." Their mother interrupted, the four of them turned as one to face the new voice.

"Anytime Rose. You sure you won't stay the night? It's no problem. Luke and I wouldn't mind at all."

"No, it's all right. I'll see you soon, though."

"You better, no more disappearing on me. That's supposed to be his job."

Rose laughed, but the three siblings could hear the underlying pain in the sound.

"No promises." The two of them walked down the driveway together. "You three making friends?"

"Hi, I'm Clyde." The boy waved with a smile.

"Luke's friend, right? Sarah-Jane mentioned you. I'm Rose." She shook his hand.

"Only good things I hope." His tone cheeky as he grinned at the journalist.

Sarah-Jane laughed.

"You're far too much trouble Clyde Langer."

As the two of them traded playful barbs back and forth, Rose nodded to her kids and they slipped silently away.

owo

"Did you bring chips?" Sol asked eagerly, when her mother stepped into their hotel room.

The young blonde shared her mother's love for chips, a savoury delicacy that was unfortunately, not present in Pete's world. The couple had taken to preparing them at home as the only substitute was a sweet dish with cinnamon and sugar. It had started off as a peace offering from John, when things were still new and rocky. They'd perfected it over the years, Rose even more so.

"Yep, proper fish and chips from a proper London chip shop." She answered as she settled her bags down by the door, which she kicked shut with her foot.

"Yes!" Sol crowed, excitedly as the family settled on the carpet with their meal.

They enjoyed their first bites of real chips in comfortable silence, the buzz of their familial telepathic bond always more noticeable in those moments, as they basked in their familiarity of each other's company.

"So did you find out what you needed to from Sarah-Jane, mum?" Nox asked.

Rose nodded around a bite of battered fish.

"Think so. Though I think it's best that we avoid any more house visits."

Almost as one, the three of them froze as they registered what their mum had said. They tripped over one another as they spoke over each other.

"No more house visits?" Sol all but shrieked.

"Why not?" Nox asked.

"So what are we doing instead?" Luna finished.

Rose waited patiently for them to finish before speaking again.

"I'm dead in this universe. And it's not like the last time I was here there's no threat to all of creation looming, no planets in the sky to act as a distraction. You three don't even exist, technically. It was a risk going to Sarah-Jane, I'd much rather have gone straight to Jack but we don't have that option. I want to at least play it safe, going straight to their doorstep will just draw unwanted attention and I think we can all agree we've had enough of that haven't we?" She looked each of her children in the eye until they agreed. "Good. I need you to trust me on this, and if that means keeping to the shadows you stay. Got it?" Another round of nods.

It wasn't going to be easy but Rose was determined that this universe was going to be kinder to them or so help her she'd make it.

 **A/N: A month into lockdown and I finally remembered this story. How yall coping? Not used to writing so many siblings especially ones that are both so young and so old, very confusing. Thank you for your comments, I'm really enjoying this concept even if the delay suggests otherwise. How do you think they should meet the Doctor?**

 **Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments. Anything you liked, things you think I should change etc. See ya next chapter :)**


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